


Reincarnate

by TooManyPodcasts



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 10:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18408902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooManyPodcasts/pseuds/TooManyPodcasts
Summary: Nott dies for real. Good thing Caduceus recently hit level 9.Update: I straight up forgot that Cad isn't a Druid when I was writing this. Oops.





	Reincarnate

**Author's Note:**

> So I totally forgot that Cad is a Cleric, not a Druid. But this fic is already written and posted, so here it is anyways. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Nott dies again. She dies, and it takes far longer than a minute before anyone can reach her. As Caleb sinks down, dead eyed and shaking, to gather up her broken body, Caduceus stops him.

 

“Hang on, there's something I can try.”

 

****

 

Nott had died again. She knows it when she wakes up. Knows this feeling of not quite fitting her body, this awful, awful strangeness. There's nausea in the pit of her stomach and the feeling of wind on her skin is almost excruciatingly intense. She can hear sobbing, but it seems muffled and far off, as if her ears were stuffed full of cotton. Her body feels shrunken, tight like ill-fitting clothes. She opens her eyes, and for a moment she thinks she's gone blind.

 

“Nott!” She hears Jester shout, but it's so quiet, and she can't see anything but darkness. Panic is rising in her chest and she struggles to sit up, fighting against the hands suddenly pressing against her shoulders.

 

“Not so quickly, please, _liebling_ stay calm.” That's Caleb, and his voice sounds like a sob. Nott _needs_ to comfort him but she can't see his face, can't even see if these hands are his.

 

“My eyes!” She gasps, and her own voice stills her. Her _own_ voice. Still high pitched but no longer grating, it's the voice she'd had _before_.

 

“Ah. Of course! Just wait!” There's a familiar pop and Caleb's floating lights materialize, haloing his head. He looks absolutely wrecked. There are tear tracks through the grime on his face and his hair is matted with what Nott sincerely hopes is someone else's blood. “Your dark vision must be gone.” He says and, to her shock, breaks out in a smile.

 

“What--what happened? I feel like I died.” There is a tiny, tiny spark of hope growing in her chest, but she needs him to say it. His hands tighten for just a moment, short fingernails biting into her shoulders.

 

“You...did. You did. But Caduceus was able to...ah, I'm sorry _schatz_ I know you wanted me to do it but, ah…”

 

“You're a halfling again!” Jester burst in, her voice impatient and joyful. And now Nott can see her, and the rest of the Mighty Nein, crowded around in the glow of Caleb's lights with faces full of delight and concern.

 

“A mirror?” She whispers, even as she holds a hand up to her face. It's brown. Brown, not green! And she has proper fingers! They are straight, short, and a little chubby, not gnarled and spider-like.

 

“I have one!” Jester says, immediately pressing a scrap of polished metal into her hands. “I thought you might ask.”

 

Caleb's hands ease her into a sitting position as Nott, trembling, raises the small mirror to her face.

 

It's her.

 

The _real_ her.

 

Well, almost. She looks into her own eyes for the first time in nearly two years and notices her eyebrows aren't quite as bushy as she remembers. The shape of her nose, too, seems a little off. She brushes a bit of hair back from her forehead and finds smooth skin. There had been a faint scar there before from when she had fallen out of a tree as a child. The differences are so small she doubts anyone else would notice them, but she knows she hasn't miraculously returned to her original body.

 

“How?” She asks, finally.

 

“With a little help from the Wild Mother.” Caduceus says, leaning in to look at her face. He seems proud, like an artist examining his work. “I'll be honest with you Miss Nott, it was a bit of a struggle to bring you back as a halfling, you got very lucky.”

 

“It wasn't luck, it was the Traveler.” Jester says smugly. “I asked him and he said the Wild Mother doesn’t care what you look like when you come back, that it's just random. So he let me help Caduceus with the spell.”

 

“My face?” She croaks, her throat too tight for anything more. Jester still seems to understand.

 

“That was Caleb's freaky memory thing. He was able to remember every detail of the illusion you used before and talked us through…making your...uh, body.”

 

“Thank you.” She whispers, still staring at her own reflection.

 

“We're just glad to have you back, Nott.” Caduceus says, settling a massive hand on her arm.

 

She shakes her head.

 

“Not Nott.” She says. “My name...is Veth.” and then she starts to cry.

  



End file.
